Most computational devices have a user interface that includes a keyboard, keypad or touch screen interface, which allows a user of the device to enter information that may be subsequently acted on by the computational device. The form of the user interface depends on the function of the computational device. One form of computational device is a gaming machine or poker machine.
Gaming or poker machines have been well known for many years and have more recently gained considerable popularity, with quite substantial amounts of money wagered on these machines. There is a growing tendency for governments to legalise the use of gaming machines and consoles by licensing operators, with resulting revenue gains through licence fees and taxation of money invested.
With the growth that has occurred in the gaming machine market there is intense competition between manufacturers to supply the various existing and new venues. Gaming machine manufacturers are keen to devise games and gaming consoles which are visually pleasing to, and readily understood and usable by, players. Further, with the passage of time players can become bored or dissatisfied with the appearance and functionality of existing machines. To prevent this, it is desirable to provide either new machines with a new appearance and functionality or means for reconfiguring existing machines to have a new appearance and functionality.
Current gaming consoles typically use one or more displays, generally either LCD or CRT, although other technologies such as electroluminescent displays have also been used. Suitable design and use of such displays can make a console more visually pleasing to a user, both from a distance and while using the console.
Gaming machine manufacturers such as Silicon Gaming and Ainsworth Gaming Technology have used large displays oriented in a portrait mode. A potential problem with these displays is that the player of the machine can be confused as to where to look. In machines where there are two mechanically distinguished displays, a primary display and a secondary display, it is very easy for the player to understand how the game is played across the two displays.
As large displays become lower in cost it becomes feasible and in some cases preferable to use a single display instead of multiple displays.
Touch screens are used on gaming console displays to enable the user to interact with the display. In some cases a button will exist both as a physical button for the player to depress, as well as a touchable virtual button on the display itself. In the case of a physical button for the player to depress, screen marking and degradation associated with touch screens is reduced.